The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts

Title: The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts
Author: Robert Thorogood
Published: January 15, 2026 by HQ
Format: Kindle, 313 Pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Marlow Murder Club #5

Blurb: Someone is killing celebrities in Marlow! When footballer Gary Wise and thriller writer Tony Sexton are found dead, Judith, Suzie, and Becks (AKA The Marlow Murder Club) must untangle a web of blackmail and scandal to find the killer. But with their friend and police contact, DI Malik, suspended from duty, and Judith’s own past catching up with her, The Marlow Murder Club find themselves on their own for the first time ever.

With suspects piling up like tabloid headlines, and someone threatening to expose Judith’s secrets, the pressure is on for The Marlow Murder Club in more ways than one … Can they find the killer and help Judith in time, or will this be the end of The Marlow Murder Club?

My Opinion: You know that feeling when you finish a mystery and realize the author had been winking at you the whole time? The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts absolutely leans into that. The clues were sitting right there in plain sight, bold as can be, and yet Robert Thorogood manages to tuck them beneath layers of misdirection so neatly that when you do pause and think, “huh, that’s an interesting word choice,” you immediately talk yourself out of it. It’s the kind of sleight of hand that makes you feel both fooled and delighted.

And I’ll admit it: I enjoy the books far more than the television series, even though my brain refuses to let go of the actors’ faces. Every time Judith, Becks, or Suzie walks onto the page, the show’s cast strolls in right behind them.

This series has been one of those cozy mystery comfort reads I look forward to with each new installment. From the very beginning, Thorogood built a trio of women who are so wildly different, yet competent, at amateur sleuthing that you do occasionally wonder how they keep their day jobs. They’re forever traipsing across the countryside, poking into suspicious corners, and somehow still managing to show up for work. Eventually you just shrug, let realism take a little nap, and enjoy the ride. It’s part of the fun that the world bends a bit to let these women do what they do best.

There are genuinely funny moments in this book, but I felt a little shadow hanging over them because of the rumor that this might be the final book in the series. It’s hard not to read with that tiny ache in the background, wondering if this is the last time we’ll follow these women into danger, laughter, and tea fueled deduction.

Hot Girl Murder Club

Title: Hot Girl Murder Club
Author: Ashley Winstead
Published: July 14, 2026 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, 336 Pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Blurb: Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across LA, all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build—including the justice she wants for Georgia—will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty.

Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over in Hollywood—an old reign of terror that, if brought to light, could be the fuel that ignites a reckoning the world over.

My Opinion: From the very first pages, Hot Girl Murder Club grabbed me and said, “Settle in, we’re doing this.” And I did, though I’ll admit, those early chapters had me flipping back and forth, trying to keep track of who was connected to whom, and the reason for two timelines at once. There’s the present day, the past, and, just to keep things spicy, a PhD dissertation being defended at UCLA’s History Department running parallel to the whole thing. For a minute, I wondered if I was simply outnumbered by the cast list. But then something shifted. Either the book calmed down, or I leaned in harder, because suddenly the chaos made sense… right up until Winstead tossed in more characters and I was back to muttering, “Wait, who are you again?”

But here’s the thing: I loved it. I couldn’t put the book down. I kept sneaking pages whenever I could. Those little stolen moments throughout the day, until I could finally sit down at night and devour big, satisfying chunks. Winstead gives you the whole picture early on, or at least you think she does. You know the broad strokes of what happened. The hook isn’t what happened; it’s how they got there. And that “how” is addictive.

Then come the twists. One lands, and you think, “Ah, clever.” Then another. And then a couple more, each one nudging you upright, making you refocus, making you reconsider the entire architecture of the story. It’s that delicious “what if” territory; the kind that gets your mental gears whirring long after you’ve closed the book.

By the end, you’ll want notes. Lots of notes. Character webs, motivations, group dynamics, the whole messy tangle. And even then, you’ll spend days afterward trying to piece it all together again, replaying conversations, rethinking alliances, wondering how you missed certain tells. It’s the kind of book that lingers, not because it’s confusing, but because it’s alive in your head.

This was my second Ashley Winstead novel, the first being This Book Will Bury Me, and I dare say Hot Girl Murder Club puts the first to shame. Not because the earlier book wasn’t exceptional (it absolutely was), but because this one has that rare, days after resonance. It’s the feeling that tells you Winstead isn’t just good; she’s the kind of author who reminds psychological thriller lovers exactly why they adore this genre. The tension, the intellect, the emotional messiness, the narrative audacity- it’s all here, and it’s all done with skill and confidence.

River Deep

Title: River Deep
Author: Bryan Gruley
Published: July 7, 2026 by Severn House
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 444 Pages
Genre: Legal Thriller
Series: Bitterfrost #2

Blurb: Attorney Devyn Payne expects a quieter life when she returns to her hometown of Bitterfrost. Until the bodies of two eight-month-old boys are pulled from the icy depths of the local river. Was it a tragic accident or something more disturbing?

The twins’ distraught parents survived the car crash, but their mother, Catriona Dulaney, was driving. Now she’s charged with killing her babies, and her admission of guilt has leaked online. It should be the most straightforward case Devyn prosecutes all year. And yet, to her, it doesn’t add up.

With time dwindling ahead of the trial, Detective Garth Klimmek questioning Cat’s role in the tragedy, and a suspicious outsider loitering around town, this crime might just be the tip of an iceberg. Devyn’s put two Dulaneys behind bars before. This time, whose side will she take—and what will it cost?

My Opinion: River Deep is the second book in Brian Gruley’s Bitterfrost series, and let me say this upfront: you really do need to start with ‘Bitter Frost’. Gruley often references the first book, but never quite gives new readers enough to stand on. If you jump in here, you’ll feel like you arrived halfway through a conversation and everyone expects you to already know the gossip.

Now, what Gruley does deliver, and deliver well, is that unmistakable mid‑west noir atmosphere. I’m currently in the middle of a heatwave, yet somehow, I’m bundled up under a blanket because Gruley can make Michigan’s cold wind rattle straight through your bones. It’s a neat trick, and honestly, one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed his previous works.

But this one? This one tested my patience.

So many half‑answers, evasions, and characters who seem allergic to giving a straight response. Not miscommunication, it is avoidance. And while that can be delicious in a mystery, here it often felt like wading through fog that never quite lifts. Add in overly descriptive passages, repetitive reminders of things the reader already knows, sudden tangents, and the occasional “I just discovered my thesaurus” word dropped in out of nowhere, and the pacing becomes exhausting. I found myself muttering “get on with it already” more than once, which is never a great sign.

The plot itself has promise. From the earliest pages, you think you know what’s going on, but then you’re dragged through so many side jaunts and slow stretches that the momentum sputters. And just when things finally start to move, Gruley circles back to re‑explain what we’ve already been told. It’s the kind of structure that makes you understand why some readers skim everything but the dialogue. I refused to do that, mostly out of loyalty to the author, but I did wonder what went wrong here.

The good news: the last 80% picks up. A twist, well, more like a bullet, finally shakes the story awake, answers start landing, and the narrative tightens. But even with that improvement, it wasn’t quite enough to pull the book out of the “mediocre” pile for me.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays

Title: The Bookshop of Yesterdays
Author: Amy Meyerson
Published: June 12, 2018 by Park Row
Format: Paperback 397 Pages
Genre: General Fiction

Blurb: A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of reading.

Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy’s bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda’s twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda’s life. She doesn’t hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy—and one final scavenger hunt.

My Opinion: In my ongoing quest to clear off the long ignored corners of my TBR shelf, The Bookshop of Yesterday was next in line. And maybe it’s me, maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood, but this one was boring from the start and, frankly, obvious in all the ways I didn’t want it to be.

Bookstore settings usually give a story an automatic boost. Readers love them; I love them. But the secrets, the literary clues, the scavenger hunt style breadcrumb trail… none of it added any real spark here. Especially when the main character is someone you wouldn’t willingly spend an afternoon with, let alone follow through a maze of “mysteries.” She’s distant in that way that makes you feel like you’re reading from the outside looking in, never quite invited to care.

As the story went on, it felt like the author kept tossing more and more elements into the mix that didn’t need more family drama, emotional revelations, and bookish puzzles, in hopes that something would deepen the narrative. But everything stayed surface-level, as if the book were trying to convince me it had layers without ever actually revealing any.

By the halfway point, it had become an overlong slog of predictability. Honestly, it should have been a DNF. But because it had been sitting on my shelf for ages, I felt obligated to give it a fair shot. In hindsight? A waste of time. Some books reward your patience; this one just drained it.